My name is Dave Zoglio, I am married to Angela, and we are both originally from Providence, RI moved to South Kingstown 20 years ago. I am the science teacher leader, AP environmental science and AP biology instructor at Classical High School in Providence, Rhode Island. I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a major in plant and soil science. In 1973, I decided I would like to try a career in education and took a job as a vocational agriculture teacher at the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, in Lexington Massachusetts. Our program allowed the teachers to create horticulture-related enterprises including two commercial greenhouses and a flower shop that was open to the public. The revenue from these enterprises (more than $70,000/year) was used to support the program and provide state of the art experiences for our students. I obtained a Master’s Degree in Education in 1981 at URI. In 1985, I left education to start a residential construction business. In 1992, I returned to education at the Rhode Island Training School and then at an alternative school in Attleboro, MA. In 1995, I returned to a more traditional middle school setting in Providence, RI. I then moved back to high school and began teaching general biology at Classical High School seventeen years ago I started an AP Environmental Science program which is the highest attended science elective with over 180 students each school year. I am also the advisor of WCHS, the student run TV station and the environmental club. In addition I coach the Ocean Science Bowl and Science Bowl teams I have been involved in the URI Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education program through which I was partnered with a Ph.D. candidate from the Graduate School of Oceanography. This program helped in the design and implementation of the AP Environmental Science program. I was also a member of the ARMADA Project t, which, through my summer experience, and school year activities, has given my students, and me an insight into the day-to-day activities of those involved in doing real science. This association will be an important link to providing quality programs to our students now and for many years to come. I have presented at the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) national convention for five consecutive years and various local professional conventions. After 30 years as an educator/teacher leader, I am always looking for a new challenge, I believe my experience in vocational, “at risk “and college prep settings will help as I apply for positions in educational leadership.
I have been asked the question “what are you good at”, my first response would be everything, but I know I would be hard pressed to provide evidence to back up such a statement.
I have a great deal of interests and hobbies, which I feel comfortable with. If I had to choose one aspect of my life that I have made a contribution, it would be the creation of authentic educational experiences.
It started when I was a young camp councilor, in those days you were given a group of kids and you were expected to provide a weeks’ worth of programming with very little equipment, and nature, somehow I made it work, I help create many activities in forestry, nature studies, survival, and aquatics.
Little did I know that this experience was the best preparation for my career in education. My first position was at a vocational school teaching horticulture, I was charged with instructing the same 25 students in a “week about system”, they would have one week of academics, and one week of shop.
Un like the other shops I had very little equipment and very little money to run such a program, we soon discovered that if we created a business we could have the people in the town pay us to landscape their yards, build patios, walks and decks. This would allow us to teach our students in an authentic way. The customer would provide the materials and we would charge them a small fee that allowed us to by equipment. The department soon grew into a five member staff which ran four different horticultural businesses, a landscape company, a tree business, a flower shop, and a commercial greenhouse. The department would gross over $70,000 per year which not only solved our financial problems, but allow us to give our students real world experience.
This experience allowed many of our students to start businesses that are still in existence today.
In my future positions I have always tried to relate what we do in the classroom to real world problems and experiences. Each year I assign my AP Environmental students to take a years’ worth of instruction and create a sustainable business that would be critiqued by an outside panel of professionals, quite a task for a group of young people. Each year the students have produced projects that have created a great deal of interest. This past school year a group of students came up with a way to refurbish old computers so they can be used in the elementary schools which are in dire need of technology, the judges were so impressed, that the students may have a summer job putting their idea into practice.
Due to the fact that I have been in the classroom for such a long time I could go on and on with examples. But I feel that I have had a great deal of success in this area and hope it could have been more of an integral part of the curriculum.
In the near future I hope to finish my career as an administrator, where I may be able to set up such experiences on a much larger scale.
I have had many positive educational experiences, but on I remember one very clearly and feel it had a great impact on my school experience. In my 8th grade , my basic intelligence landed me in a level, yes we had levels in those days, with a group of highly motivated students, I could hold my own most of the time but had a problem with reading for understanding I think a lot of it had to do with my lack of practice. My Social Studies teacher took me aside, tried to understand why I had a problem with reading and gave me a series of books from his private library which was slightly below my grade level to help get me up to speed. The books coupled with the attention given helped me improve by leaps and bounds and by the end of the year I was at grade level with a new appreciation for this skill
This teacher had all types of tools to make us better students. He told us at the start of the year that he would brain wash the class. We as a class felt this could never happen and went about the business of learning American history. We learned about all the issues he felt students of the day should know in the study of Us History. During the course of the year we discussed all of the presidents, and we were told that the most noteworthy was James K Polk, he gave us many examples and it was common when asked, who was the best President the class would all agree that it had to be Polk. The reader can guess what came next; at the end of the school year he proudly reported to the class that his brain washing experiment was successful. We as experts in American History disagreed. The teacher with a big smile on his face simply said James K Polk, not only was he not the best President ever, but as far as accomplishments he was way down the list. We learned a valuable lesson that day and it must have had a great impact on me to remember it some 48 years later. I recently had dinner with members of my Jr. High class and this teacher was remembered and everyone had a different story of how he made a difference.
Mr. Farley was one of those teachers that impacted thousands of city kids and helped us appreciate education and all it can do to benefit our lives as well as society as a whole.
I am the science teacher leader, AP environmental science and AP biology instructor at Classical High School in Providence, Rhode Island.
I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a major in plant and soil science. In 1973, I decided I would like to try a career in education and took a job as a vocational agriculture teacher at the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, in Lexington Massachusetts. Our program allowed the teachers to create horticulture-related enterprises including two commercial greenhouses and a flower shop that was open to the public. The revenue from these enterprises (more than $70,000/year) was used to support the program and provide state of the art experiences for our students.
I obtained a Master’s Degree in Education in 1981 at URI. In 1985, I left education to start a residential construction business. In 1992, I returned to education at the Rhode Island Training School and then at an alternative school in Attleboro, MA. In 1995, I returned to a more traditional middle school setting in Providence, RI. I then moved back to high school and began teaching general biology at Classical High School seventeen years ago I started an AP Environmental Science program which is the highest attended science elective with over 180 students each school year. I am also the advisor of WCHS, the student run TV station and the environmental club. In addition I coach the Ocean Science Bowl and Science Bowl teams
I have been involved in the URI Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education program through which I was partnered with a Ph.D. candidate from the Graduate School of Oceanography. This program helped in the design and implementation of the AP Environmental Science program.
I was also a member of the ARMADA Project t, which, through my summer experience, and school year activities, has given my students, and me an insight into the day-to-day activities of those involved in doing real science. This association will be an important link to providing quality programs to our students now and for many years to come. I have presented at the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) national convention for five consecutive years and various local professional conventions.
After 30 years as an educator/teacher leader, I am always looking for a new challenge, I believe my experience in vocational, “at risk “and college prep settings will help as I apply for positions in educational leadership.
I have been asked the question “what are you good at”, my first response would be everything, but I know I would be hard pressed to provide evidence to back up such a statement.
I have a great deal of interests and hobbies, which I feel comfortable with. If I had to choose one aspect of my life that I have made a contribution, it would be the creation of authentic educational experiences.
It started when I was a young camp councilor, in those days you were given a group of kids and you were expected to provide a weeks’ worth of programming with very little equipment, and nature, somehow I made it work, I help create many activities in forestry, nature studies, survival, and aquatics.
Little did I know that this experience was the best preparation for my career in education. My first position was at a vocational school teaching horticulture, I was charged with instructing the same 25 students in a “week about system”, they would have one week of academics, and one week of shop.
Un like the other shops I had very little equipment and very little money to run such a program, we soon discovered that if we created a business we could have the people in the town pay us to landscape their yards, build patios, walks and decks. This would allow us to teach our students in an authentic way. The customer would provide the materials and we would charge them a small fee that allowed us to by equipment. The department soon grew into a five member staff which ran four different horticultural businesses, a landscape company, a tree business, a flower shop, and a commercial greenhouse. The department would gross over $70,000 per year which not only solved our financial problems, but allow us to give our students real world experience.
This experience allowed many of our students to start businesses that are still in existence today.
In my future positions I have always tried to relate what we do in the classroom to real world problems and experiences. Each year I assign my AP Environmental students to take a years’ worth of instruction and create a sustainable business that would be critiqued by an outside panel of professionals, quite a task for a group of young people. Each year the students have produced projects that have created a great deal of interest. This past school year a group of students came up with a way to refurbish old computers so they can be used in the elementary schools which are in dire need of technology, the judges were so impressed, that the students may have a summer job putting their idea into practice.
Due to the fact that I have been in the classroom for such a long time I could go on and on with examples. But I feel that I have had a great deal of success in this area and hope it could have been more of an integral part of the curriculum.
In the near future I hope to finish my career as an administrator, where I may be able to set up such experiences on a much larger scale.
I have had many positive educational experiences, but on I remember one very clearly and feel it had a great impact on my school experience. In my 8th grade , my basic intelligence landed me in a level, yes we had levels in those days, with a group of highly motivated students, I could hold my own most of the time but had a problem with reading for understanding I think a lot of it had to do with my lack of practice. My Social Studies teacher took me aside, tried to understand why I had a problem with reading and gave me a series of books from his private library which was slightly below my grade level to help get me up to speed. The books coupled with the attention given helped me improve by leaps and bounds and by the end of the year I was at grade level with a new appreciation for this skill
This teacher had all types of tools to make us better students. He told us at the start of the year that he would brain wash the class. We as a class felt this could never happen and went about the business of learning American history. We learned about all the issues he felt students of the day should know in the study of Us History. During the course of the year we discussed all of the presidents, and we were told that the most noteworthy was James K Polk, he gave us many examples and it was common when asked, who was the best President the class would all agree that it had to be Polk. The reader can guess what came next; at the end of the school year he proudly reported to the class that his brain washing experiment was successful. We as experts in American History disagreed. The teacher with a big smile on his face simply said James K Polk, not only was he not the best President ever, but as far as accomplishments he was way down the list. We learned a valuable lesson that day and it must have had a great impact on me to remember it some 48 years later. I recently had dinner with members of my Jr. High class and this teacher was remembered and everyone had a different story of how he made a difference.
Mr. Farley was one of those teachers that impacted thousands of city kids and helped us appreciate education and all it can do to benefit our lives as well as society as a whole.